Printing ribbon indexing system

ABSTRACT

A printing ribbon indexing mechanism for use with a printing mechanism utilizing a pair of operating hammer members. The indexing mechanism includes a printing ribbon supply reel mounted on a slip clutch, a take-up reel supplying tension to the ribbon, a pair of stationary rollers, a pair of movable rollers, each of which is mounted to one of the hammer members and a pressure roller mounted on a one-way clutch. Movement of either of the hammer members in a printing operation will allow the movable roller which is attached to that hammer member, to withdraw ribbon from the supply roller such that the hammer member will print on a new area of the printing ribbon.

United States Patent 1 1 Patel 1 Oct. 2, 1973 1 1 PRINTING RIBBONINDEXING SYSTEM [75] Inventor: Ramesh U. Patel, Cambridge, Ohio [73]Assignee: The National Cash Register Company, Dayton, Ohio [22] Filed:Aug. 6, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 169,743

Primary Examiner'Ernest T. Wright, Jr. Attorney-.1. T. Cavender et a1.

[57] ABSTRACT A printing ribbon indexing mechanism for use with aprinting mechanism utilizing a pair of operating hammer members. Theindexing mechanism includes a printing ribbon supply reel mounted on aslip clutch, a take-up reel supplying tension to the ribbon, a pair ofstationary rollers, a pair of movable rollers, each of which is mountedto one of the hammer members and a pressure roller mounted on a one-wayclutch. Movement of either of the hammer members in a printing operationwill allow the movable roller which is attached to that hammer member,to withdraw ribbon from the supply roller such that the hammer memberwill print on a new area of the printing ribbon.

10 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures PAIENIEW' 2m ms, rron NEYS 1 PRINTINGRIBBON INDEXING SYSTEM BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present inventionis directed to a multiple hammer printer mechanism for printing data inthe form of bars on a record tag and more particularly to an indexingmechanism for moving a printing ribbon past a pair of printing hammers.The printer mechanism utilizes a pair of printing hammers mounted in aside-by-side configuration, each of which is independently operated toprint o n arecord tag a series of bars of two different configurations,each of which represents coded information. The record tag may beattached to a merchandise item with the coded information relating tothe price of the item and also providing inventory information. Therecord tag is read during the sale of the item by hand-held, opticalprobe scanner which is squibbed" or glided across the record tag.Information from this reading is transmitted to a data collecting sourceor an electronic cash register from which merchandise operations arecarried out and inventories are controlled.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the printing of record tags on which codedinformation is to be utilized as part of a merchandizing operation, itis desirable that the cost of the tags be kept at a minimum. One of theareas of cost in the printing of these tags is the amount of printingribbon which is used to print the coded information on the tags. It isdesirable that all of the surface area of the printing ribbon beutilized in the printing of the tags. It is, therefore, an object ofthis invention to provide a ribbon indexing mechanism for supplying aprinting ribbon to a printing station comprising a pair of printinghammers which I will utilize fully the printing ribbon and which issimple in construction and, therefore, low in cost. In carrying out theobject of this invention, there is supplied an indexing mechanism whichcomprises a pair of rollers, each of which is independently mounted toone of the pair of print hammers, a supply reel of printing ribbon whichis mounted on a slip clutch for supplying ribbon to the print hammer, atake-up reel which supplies tension to the ribbon system. a pair ofstationary rollers mounted between the movable rollers located on thehammers and a pressure roller mounted on a-one-way clutch and which isoperated in one direction by the ribbon pulled by the'take-up reel. Themovable rollers mounted on the printing hammers are positioned adjacentthe stationary rollers and are movable upon the operation of the printhammers in a printing direction to move new ribbon from the supply reelsuch that the actuated print hammer, upon reaching a printing position,will engage a new supply of ribbon.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a schematic representation ofthe indexing mechanism for advancing a printing ribbon from a supplyreel to a take-up reel.

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic representation of the printing ribbon showingthe position'of the ribbon at the time of the printing of the stripedbar.

FIG. 3 shows the position of the ribbon after the hammer printing thestriped bar has returned to its home position. I FIG. 4 shows theposition of the ribbon at the time of the printing of the solid bar.

FIG. 8 shows the position of the ribbon at the time of I the printing ofa second striped bar.

FIG. 9 shows the position of the ribbon'after the hammer printing thesecond striped bar has returned to its home position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1,there is shown a schematic representation of the indexing mechanismwhich includes a supply reel 21 of printing ribbon 22. The supply reel21 is mounted on a hub 23 which, in turn, is connected to a slip clutch16. The slip clutch 16 is of standard construction and will supply adrag on the supply reel 21 whenever the supply reel 21 is rotated. Theprinting ribbon 22 is threaded over a plurality of roller members 24 to30 inclusive and a guide member 31 to a take-up reel 32. The take-upreel 32 provides constant tension on the ribbon system by meansof beingconnected to the constantly rotating drive shaft 17 of a motor 18through a slip clutch 19. The slip clutch 19 is of standard constructionand similar to clutch 16. The tension supplied by the take-up reel 32 issufficient to wind rib bon 22 onto the take-up reel 32 but is less thanthe drag supplied to the supply reel 21 by the slip clutch 16. Thus thetake-up reel 32 will be unable to pull ribbon 22 from the supply reel21. The printing ribbon 22 is engaged by a roller 33 rotatably mountedon a one-way roller clutch 20, the function of which will be describedmore fully hereinafter. The one-way clutch 20 is of standardconstruction, an example of which is disclosed in US. Pat. No. 2,240,359issued to D. W. Weizel on Apr. 29, l94l. Associated with the roller.33are a pair of pressure rollers 40,41. The roller 26 is mounted by meansof support member 14 to a print hammer member 34 while roller 29 ismounted by means of support member 15 to a second hammer member 35. Asshown in FIG. 4, hammer member 34 will print a striped pattern 36 whilehammer member 35 will print a solid pattern 37.

In the operation of the printer, assume that hammer 34 will be activatedto print a striped pattern 36 on a in the ribbon 22 between rollers 26and 27. This sag is then removed by the take-up reel 32, againtensioning the ribbon 22. On the upward movement of the hammer 34 to itshome position after a printing operation has occurred, roller 26, inmoving in an upward direction, will pull new ribbon 22 from the supplyreel 21 (FIG. 3), so that a fresh printing area of the ribbon 22 isadjacent the hammer 34. The roller 33 mounted on the one-way clutch 20(FIG. 1) will prevent the ribbon 22 from moving from the take-up reel 32towards the supply reel 21 during the upward movement of the roller 26.As shown by the arrow in FIG. 1, the one-way clutch 20 conditions theroller 33 to be rotated in a clockwise direction only. Thus the ribbon22 is advanced after the hammer 34 has been operated. If the hammer 34is to be again operated, the ribbon 22 will be in position for a newprinting operation.

Assuming that print hammer 35 will now be operated, the downwardmovement of hammer 35 and the roller 29 will pull the ribbon 22 from thesupply reel 21, thus positioning new ribbon 22 under the hammer 35 forthe printing of a solid pattern 37 (FIG. 4) on the tag. Upon the returnmovement of the hammer 35 to its home position (FIG. 5), the upwardmovement of the roller 29 will create a sag in the ribbon 22 which willbe eliminated by the action of the take-up reel 32. It will be seen bymounting the one-way clutch on the roller 33 that the downward movementof roller 29 will pull ribbon 22 from the supply reel 21 rather than thetake-up reel 32.

If the hammer 35 is again actuated, the downward movement of the roller29 will again move the ribbon 22 to allow the printing (FIG. 6) of asecond solid pattern 37. Upon the return movement (FIG. 7) of the hammer35 to its home position, the sag created by the upward movement ofroller 29 will be eliminated by the take-up reel 32. If hammer 34 is nowactuated (FIG. 8), the downward movement of roller 26 will create a sagin the ribbon'22 which will be eliminated by the takeup reel 32. Afterthe printing of the striped pattern 36 has occurred, the hammer 34 andthe roller 26 will be moved in an upward direction allowing the roller26 to pull a new ribbon 22 (FIG. 9) from the supply reel 21, thusconditioning the printer for a subsequent printing operation. The lengthof feed of the ribbon 22 from the supply reel 21 by the movement of therollers 26 and 29 is controlled by the distance between the rollers 27and 28. Thus by shortening the distance between the rollers 27 and 28,the length of feed of the ribbon 22 will be shortened. It will thus beseen by this construction that fresh portions of the ribbon 22 willalways be positioned by the movement of either of the hammers 34,35 toallow the hammers 34,35 to be actuated in any sequence of operation. Itis obvious that the system of rollers 26to 29 inclusive can be mountedbetween the supply reel 21 and the hammers 34, 35 and still function inthe same manner as described previously. While two printing hammers34,35 are disclosed in the present embodiment, the ribbon indexingmechanism disclosed herein will function in the same manner with oneprint hammer.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described withreference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood bythose skilled in the art that the foregoing and other changes in formand detail may be made therein without departing from the sphere andscope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

l. A mechanism for indexing a printing ribbon past a print stationduring a printing operation, the mechanism including a. a source ofprinting ribbon;

b. means engaging said printing ribbon for tensioning said printingribbon;

c. a unidirectional drive means engaging said printing ribbon;

d. a pair of stationary roller members engaging said printing ribbonbetween said source and said tensioning means;

e. a first roller member engaging said printing ribbon and positionedadjacent said stationary roller members, said first roller membermounted for reciprocal movement between said source and said tensioningmeans;

. and first means engaging said first roller member for reciprocallymoving said first roller member during a printing operation whereby saidfirst roller member is first moved in a direction away from saidstationary roller members to produce slack in the printing ribbon whichslack is removed by said tensioning means and then moved towards saidstationary roller members to position new printing ribbon adjacent theprint station.

2. The ribbon indexing mechanism of claim 1 which includes a. a secondroller member engaging said printing ribbon and positioned adjacent saidstationary roller members, said second roller member mounted forreciprocal movement between said source of printing ribbon and saidtensioning means;

b. and second means engaging said second roller member for reciprocallymoving said second roller member during a printing whereby said secondroller member is first moved towards said stationary rollermembers toposition new printing ribbon adjacent the print station and then movedaway from the stationary roller members to produce slack in the printingribbon which is removed by said tensioning means.

3. The ribbon indexing mechanism of claim 2 in which said source ofprinting ribbon includes a. a supply reel of ribbon; and

b. a slip-clutch engaging said supply reel to provide a drag on therotation of the supply reel when the ribbon printing is removed from'thesupply reel.

4. The ribbon indexing mechanism of claim 3 in which said tensioningmeans includes a. a take-up reel for the printing ribbon; and

b. means for exerting a constant torque on the takeup reel which is lessthan the drag of said slipclutch whereby the take-up reel will be unableto pull printing ribbon from the supply reel.

5. The ribbon indexing mechanism of claim 4 in which said unidirectionaldrive means includes a. a rotatably mounted third roller member engagingsaid printing ribbon; I

b. a pair of pressure rollers normally moving the printing ribbon intoengagement with said third roller member; and

c. a one-way clutch member engaging said third roller member whereby thethird roller member will rotate in only one direction.

6. An apparatus for printing data from a printing ribbon including a. asupply reel of printing ribbon;

b. means for continually tensioning said printing ribbon including atake-up reel;

c. unidirectional drive means engaging the printing ribbon for releasingthe printing ribbon for movement in a direction only from the supplyreel to the take-up reel;

d. a first print hammer slidably mounted for movement to a printingengagement with the printing ribbon;

e. a pair of stationary rollers engaging said printing ribbon andpositioned downstream from said first print hammer; and

l. a first roller member mounted on said first print hammer andpositioned downstream of said first print hammer and upstream of saidstationary rollprinting ribbon adjacent said second print hammer andupon movement of said second print hammer to a home position, saidsecond roller member is moved in a direction away from the stationaryrollers thereby creating a sag in the printing ribbon, which sag iseliminated by said tensioning means.

1 b. a second roller member mounted on said second 20 8. The printingapparatus of claim 7 in which said supply reel of printing ribbonengages a slip clutch which provides a drag on the supply reel duringremoval of printing ribbon from the supply reel.

9. The printing apparatus of claim 8 in which said tensioning meansincludes means for exerting a constant torque on the take-up reel whichis less than the drag of said slip clutch whereby the take-up reel isunable to pull printing ribbon from the supply reel.

10. The printing apparatus of claim 9 in which said unidirectional drivemeans includes a. a rotatably mounted third roller member engaging saidprinting ribbon;

b. a pair of pressure rollers normally moving the printing ribbon intoengagement with said third roller member; and

c. a one-way clutch member engaging said third roller member whereby thethird roller member will rotate in one direction only.

ers whereby upon movement of said first print hammer to a printingengagement with the printing ribbon, the first roller member is moved ina direction to create a sag in the printing ribbon which sag 10 iseliminated by said tensioning means and upon movement of the first printhammer to a home position, said first roller member is moved towardssaid stationary rollers to position new printing ribbon adjacent saidfirst print hammer.

7. The printing apparatus of claim 6 which includes a. a second printhammer slidably mounted for movement to a printing engagement with theprinting ribbon; and

print hammer, said second roller member positioned downstream of saidstationary rollers,

whereby upon movement of the second print hammer to a printingengagement with the printing ribbon, said second roller member is movedtoward said stationary rollers thereby positioning new

1. A mechanism for indexing a printing ribbon past a print stationduring a printing operation, the mechanism including a. a source ofprinting ribbon; b. means engaging said printing ribbon for tensioningsaid printing ribbon; c. a unidirectional drive means engaging saidprinting ribbon; d. a pair of stationary roller members engaging saidprinting ribbon between said source and said tensioning means; e. afirst roller member engaging said printing ribbon and positionedadjacent said stationary roller members, said first roller membermounted for reciprocal movement between said source and said tensioningmeans; f. and first means engaging said first roller member forreciprocally moving said first roller member during a printing operationwhereby said first roller member is first moved in a direction away fromsaid stationary roller members to produce slack in the printing ribbonwhich slack is removed by said tensioning means and then moved towardssaid stationary roller members to position new printing ribbon adjacentthe print station.
 2. The ribbon indexing mechanism of claim 1 whichincludes a. a second roller member engaging said printing ribbon andpositioned adjacent said stationary roller members, said second rollermember mounted for reciprocal movement between said source of printingribbon and said tensioning means; b. and second means engaging sAidsecond roller member for reciprocally moving said second roller memberduring a printing whereby said second roller member is first movedtowards said stationary roller members to position new printing ribbonadjacent the print station and then moved away from the stationaryroller members to produce slack in the printing ribbon which is removedby said tensioning means.
 3. The ribbon indexing mechanism of claim 2 inwhich said source of printing ribbon includes a. a supply reel ofribbon; and b. a slip-clutch engaging said supply reel to provide a dragon the rotation of the supply reel when the ribbon printing is removedfrom the supply reel.
 4. The ribbon indexing mechanism of claim 3 inwhich said tensioning means includes a. a take-up reel for the printingribbon; and b. means for exerting a constant torque on the take-up reelwhich is less than the drag of said slip-clutch whereby the take-up reelwill be unable to pull printing ribbon from the supply reel.
 5. Theribbon indexing mechanism of claim 4 in which said unidirectional drivemeans includes a. a rotatably mounted third roller member engaging saidprinting ribbon; b. a pair of pressure rollers normally moving theprinting ribbon into engagement with said third roller member; and c. aone-way clutch member engaging said third roller member whereby thethird roller member will rotate in only one direction.
 6. An apparatusfor printing data from a printing ribbon including a. a supply reel ofprinting ribbon; b. means for continually tensioning said printingribbon including a take-up reel; c. unidirectional drive means engagingthe printing ribbon for releasing the printing ribbon for movement in adirection only from the supply reel to the take-up reel; d. a firstprint hammer slidably mounted for movement to a printing engagement withthe printing ribbon; e. a pair of stationary rollers engaging saidprinting ribbon and positioned downstream from said first print hammer;and f. a first roller member mounted on said first print hammer andpositioned downstream of said first print hammer and upstream of saidstationary rollers whereby upon movement of said first print hammer to aprinting engagement with the printing ribbon, the first roller member ismoved in a direction to create a sag in the printing ribbon which sag iseliminated by said tensioning means and upon movement of the first printhammer to a home position, said first roller member is moved towardssaid stationary rollers to position new printing ribbon adjacent saidfirst print hammer.
 7. The printing apparatus of claim 6 which includesa. a second print hammer slidably mounted for movement to a printingengagement with the printing ribbon; and b. a second roller membermounted on said second print hammer, said second roller memberpositioned downstream of said stationary rollers, whereby upon movementof the second print hammer to a printing engagement with the printingribbon, said second roller member is moved toward said stationaryrollers thereby positioning new printing ribbon adjacent said secondprint hammer and upon movement of said second print hammer to a homeposition, said second roller member is moved in a direction away fromthe stationary rollers thereby creating a sag in the printing ribbon,which sag is eliminated by said tensioning means.
 8. The printingapparatus of claim 7 in which said supply reel of printing ribbonengages a slip clutch which provides a drag on the supply reel duringremoval of printing ribbon from the supply reel.
 9. The printingapparatus of claim 8 in which said tensioning means includes means forexerting a constant torque on the take-up reel which is less than thedrag of said slip clutch whereby the take-up reel is unable to pullprinting ribbon from the supply reel.
 10. The printing apparatus ofclaim 9 in which said unidirectional drive means includes a. a rotatablymoUnted third roller member engaging said printing ribbon; b. a pair ofpressure rollers normally moving the printing ribbon into engagementwith said third roller member; and c. a one-way clutch member engagingsaid third roller member whereby the third roller member will rotate inone direction only.